I'm going to briefly discuss respiratory drive as a conversation starter for you with your doctor. Our respiratory drive is not from oxygen (hypoxia), but from carbon dioxide (hypercapnia high CO2), and a complex interaction between how our blood converts excess CO2 to the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) which converts to bicarbonate in the blood when hypercapnia occurs. This is detected by the carotid bodies. Now, linking we can perhaps make some connections to why your situation exists:
This article is mainly focused on anesthesia, but discusses how surgical disruption of the carotid bodies in your neck may disrupt the normal respiratory drive
https://www.openanesthesia.org/carotid_b...xic_drive/ This would explain how your cervical surgery may have affected your respiratory drive. If this mechanism is in play, it may argue against a neurological cause in favor of one that is more of a physical disruption of the carotid body. The fact your central apnea is not apparent in sleep might argue in favor of a disruption in the voluntary nervous system. In other words, I don't know, but it's food for thought.
"Carotid body denervation may occur after carotid endarterectomy as a result of surgical disruption. Unilateral loss of function may result in an impaired ventilatory response to mild hypoxemia. Bilateral carotid endarterectomy is associated with loss of the normal ventilatory response to acute hypoxia and an increased resting partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide. In this situation, the central chemoreceptors are the primary sensors for maintaining ventilation, and serious respiratory depression may result from opioid administration."
This article discusses in more basic terms the mechanisms of respiratory drive
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/med...moreceptor
This article discusses the logic of the Cartid body and its connection to the brain
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full...00057.2018 I think this article is probably to complex and theoretical to be useful, but it illustrates the complexity of the interaction between the circulatory and nervous systems.
You can do more research by searching for articles pertaining to "respiratory drive carotid body chemoreceptor". Throw in some terms that pertain to your surgery and see what pops up.